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Published 14-May-2013

Half a million pounds top estimate for British postal museum sale

By Julia Lee

The 8d registration block from the 1937-47 issue

A unique set of registration blocks from a King George VI issue is the highlight of the British Postal Museum & Archive sale on July 11. The 17 blocks from the 1937-47 issue are estimated at £400,000-£500,000. Each value from 1/2d to 1s is represented by a horizontal marginal block from the registration sheets.

A full registration sheet of 40, with a registration certificate attached to the back, for the 1923 Bradbury Wilkinson ‘Joynson’ paper 10s blue, is also the only example and is estimated at £100,000-£120,000.

The King Edward VIII issues, ½d to 2½d, in unique horizontal registration blocks of 48 spanning the sheet, are also up for sale at £100,000-£120,000.

The 1951 2s 6d to £1, are featured in a set of unparalleled horizontal marginal registration blocks of 12, spanning the sheet, and are expected to fetch £95,000-£120,000.

Another unique set, this time of six horizontal marginal registration blocks spanning the sheet, for the 1941-42 ½d to 3d, is expected to fetch £85,000-£100,000.

The final lot in the sale is a collection offering a single example of every King George VI issue, apart from the two high face value series. Estimated at £75,000-100,000, it means collectors could buy an essentially complete collection.

Sotheby’s, where the sale will take place, has put the total sale estimate at over £5 million.

The BPMA retains all its essential archive material.

The money will help fund the BPMA’s new museum at Calthorpe House.

The project to develop the new centre, which would allow both philatelic and larger material to be on show properly for the first time, will cost approximately £22 million.

Royal Mail, the Post Office and the Heritage Lottery Fund are supplying funding, and another sale will take place in 2014.